Las Cruces joins Albuquerque in facing a budget deficit

After years of overspending the City of Las Cruces, like Albuquerque, faces a budget deficit. There is a lot to unpack with the situation in Las Cruces. For starters, unlike Albuquerque which has lost people, Las Cruces continues to grow and has seen a 7.08% increase since the 2020 census. That means that the City can and should be able to grow its budget albeit at a reasonable and steady pace. Unfortunately, it looks like the City has overshot the mark:

• FY24: The city approved a $519 million budget, which at the time was the largest in city history, with a 9.4% increase in the general fund.
• FY25: The city adopted a $596 million budget that added 21 new positions and increased personnel spending by $10.2 million.
• The FY 26 budget was $612.2 million.

In other words, in just the span of three years Las Cruces spending rose by 18%. 

The good news is that tax hikes do not seem to be part of the conversation at this point. 

While cities should definitely be more financially responsible, it is also true that Albuquerque and Las Cruces don’t benefit in the same way as the State does from New Mexico’s oil and gas boom. There HAS to be a way for the State to leverage some of the piles of cash it has to push cities to go along with much-needed reforms to the State’s broken and anti-business gross receipts tax. Some of us remember in 2023 when bipartisan reform legislation with MLG’s support was killed due to lobbying from cities that would have taken a trivial budget cut from lost GRT revenues in the proposed reform. A governor and legislature that cared about making needed tax reforms to grow New Mexico economically would prioritize innovative ways to bring these and the rest of New Mexico’s cities on board with needed tax reforms.